Guadalupe Gentry

GUADALUPE GONZALEZ GENTRY

January 18, 1930 - July 17, 2016

Guadalupe Gonzalez Gentry, born in Allende, Coahuila, Mexico, to Manuel Maria and Teresa Benavides de Gonzalez on January 18, 1930, passed away peacefully at home at the age of 86 on July 17, 2016, after a brief illness. Guadalupe, known as "Lupe" to family and friends grew up in Piedras Negras, and married Willis E. Gentry III in 1950, then moving to Von Ormy, Texas and in 1966 to Laredo, which would become her home.

Alongside her husband, she helped to establish and manage their longtime business, The Laredo Garden Center, as both of them enjoyed gardening and the outdoors. For over forty years, the Garden Center, later known as "Gentry's" grew to include a flower shops, gift shops, and pet shops, not only in Laredo but in Brownsville, Corpus Christi, El Paso, and Las Cruces, New Mexico. She enjoyed the many years she and her husband spent involved with the Texas Association of Nurserymen, meeting people and making friends that were considered family, in Laredo, San Antonio and throughout the state. She devoted all of her time to her family and the business. She loved spending her time taking care of her ten grandchildren, gardening at home, bird watching, visiting the Texas Hill Country and traveling each summer throughout the country and Mexico.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Manuel Maria and Teresa Benavides de Gonzalez, her husband, Willis E. Gentry III, her brothers, Joaquin, Manuel, Luis, Jorge, Antonio, and Edilberto Gonzalez; by her only sister, Teresa Gonzalez Benavides; and by her brother-in-law, James Gentry.

She is survived by her children, Willis Edward Gentry IV (Elvia), Patricia (Joe) Flores of Brownsville, George (Grizelda) Gentry of San Antonio, and Richard (Olga) Gentry; his grandchildren, Carolina (Lafe May) and Willis E. Gentry V, Christina (John) Mendoza and Linda (William) Burch, George (Kimberly) Gentry Jr, James and Elizabeth Rose (Barclay) Bell, and John Richard (Elizabeth) Gentry, Patrick and Joseph Gentry, and his great grand-children, Joseph and Madison Mendoza, Cash and Teagan Burch, and Liam Gentry. She is also survived by her sisters-in-law, Consuelo and Irene Gonzalez, Margie Gentry Stahala, Bonnie Gentry Sundquist, and by numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church on Tuesday, July 19, 2016, at 10:00 am.

Rite of Committal and Interment will be private. All services will conclude at the church.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations be made to St. Augustine High School, 1300 Galveston, Laredo, Texas, 78040.

You may extend your condolences to the family online at: www.joejacksonfuneralchapels.com

Arrangements are under the direction of the funeral service professionals at Joe Jackson North Funeral Chapels, 1410 Jacaman Rd., Laredo, TX 78041, 956.722.8850